Blog Post Archive

The kiln is firing away as I get ready for my annual Holiday Open Studio. I will have all of the usual goods: lotus bowls, flower bowls, poppy plates, vases, creamer and sugars, and lots of cake stands. So many cake stands. Also one-of-a-kinds, samples and experiments, and a few marked down seconds. Show More Summary

I'm sick right now. I started getting sick last week when I took the week off to go to Yosemite, and a couple of days into my trip, my throat started tingling. That is always my first warning sign, my illnesses always start in the throat. Show More Summary

I'm doing something a little weird right now, which is reading Thomas Keller's The French Laundry cookbook cover to cover. The French Laundry is a Napa Valley restaurant about an hour away from where I live. I've never eaten there. I will eat there someday, and I know people who have eaten there and talked to them about the experience. Show More Summary

My mother asked me very casually the other day, "So, when are you going to start working with your new porcelain?" My mother had no idea that she just asked me the equivalent of, "So, when are you going to find Mr. Right and get married? Your eggs are getting old and no one is going to want you!" For the record, I already found Mr. Show More Summary

It's Tuesday, and I'm finally recovered from my weekend selling at the Renegade Craft Fair. Did I say selling? What I meant to say was showing, I was showing my work at the Renegade. It was, unfortunately, the most beautiful day of the year on Saturday. Show More Summary

cheese booty I've been home from France for for about a week and a half, and it's been a slow process of re-integrating back into my regular life. I went to El Presidente. I would rather pay 50 euro in overweight charges and bring it...Show More Summary

Three things:1. dog shitFrance does not have any laws or cultural expectation that one should clean up after their pets. Therefore, I've become familiar with all types of dog shit: neatly piled logs made by large and polite dogs whoShow More Summary

Another week has gone by in the life of my France residency. I've been wrestling with all kinds of fear. Fear that time is going by too quickly and all the things I want to make will not get made while I am here. And then, fear that I seem to care more about getting down to the beach every day than I do about making stuff. Show More Summary

I've been in Vallauris for about 10 days now, and I've been finding my rhythm and establishing a pace. I'm the type of person that tries to integrate as much as I can into my surroundings. It's like adjusting my personal frequency, so I can tune in more acutely to what is going on around me. Show More Summary

I arrived in Vallauris yesterday after spending 5 days in Paris with my pottery posse, Rae, Sara, and Christa. Paris was slightly overwhelming. I was reading The Greater Journey while I was there and that book made me realize I should have made a serious plan in advance. Show More Summary

Whenever I'm getting ready to travel, I have to contend with the fact that there is a part of me that hates to travel. Even before the most exciting trips, like the one I'm about to go on, I think that it wouldn't be so bad if the whole thing got cancelled, thereby relieving me of the burden of exiting my familiar and cozy bubble. Show More Summary

There's a lot going on with me right now. Actually, there's only one thing going on, which is I'm getting ready to leave for France on May 17 for a 5 week residency. Plus, 5 days in Paris. There are many tangential activities associated with my trip that makes it count as four or five things. Show More Summary

I received this seemingly innocuous email this week:Hello Whitney,Please provide a tracking number for PO 666.Currently the ETA on this PO is 4/10, which means it would had to have shipped on Tuesday to arrive in time. We need to know...Show More Summary

I have a boyfriend, and his name is Cake Stand. We've been together a long time. I realized something recently when I walked into my studio and found all of the cake stands I made earlier in the week with large cracks across the surface of the plate: Cake Stand and I have an unhealthy, co-dependent relationship. Show More Summary

While I've been ignoring my own blog, I have been doing lots of other writing, including this guest post for Flashissue about writing a newsletter that doesn't suck. Since I was writing the post for another blog, and not my own, I had to come up with a title that didn't include "suck" and just kind of clean up the language in general. Show More Summary

I had a tooth pulled last week to make way for an implant. I was told the Chinese regard losing a tooth as an event that signals change in your life. Since I'm not Chinese, I regard it as an expensive pain in the ass. Even so it does seem as though change is afoot. Show More Summary

I'm a recovering workaholic. I used to work a minimum of 10 hours a day plus weekends. 10 hours a day probably doesn't sound like much to the workaholics who work 18 hour days, but I am a very lazy person, so for me a 10 hour work day is crazy. Show More Summary

Sometimes I wonder if just because I can sell something, if that means it's worth making. I ran smack into this recently as I pondered Valentine's Day. Every year I think about scraping off some of that Valentine market, because it's a huge market. Show More Summary

January is a great time to go through all the stuff you accumulated throughout the year and start throwing it out. At home, I've been going through closets, my office, the kitchen pantry. Throwing stuff out, organizing stuff, and giving stuff away. Show More Summary

Here's some marketing advice for you, the artist who makes things to sell: dream up an item that is inexpensive and easy to make, then sit back and watch as the money rolls in.The high-profit-margin-easy-to-make item is the holy grail of anyone who makes things, whether you do it for a living or for extra income. Show More Summary